REMEMBERING WEXFORD'S DEAD A CENTURY AFTER THE END OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR
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WEXFORD HISTORICAL Society will focus on World War I for its next lecture – namely the operation of the American Air Station at Ferrybank.
To coincide with the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Armistice, Wexford Historical Society President Liam Gaul will give a talk called ‘Wings over Wexford’, the same title as his recent book on the subject. The illustrated presentation will bring listeners back to 1918, when the United States Navy installed a force of over 400 sailors, 22 officers, and four Curtiss H-16 seaplanes at Ferrybank.
The base was a veritable village with accommodation, hospital, medics, post office, YMCA Hall, radio towers, electricity-generating plant, and four very large aircraft hangers.
The base was only operational for a short time but its impact on the town was considerable and its achievements in the global conflict were significant, protecting shipping, both naval and commercial, from German U-boats.
On February 25, 1918, the first US Naval Forces arrived at the site under the command of Officer Charles A Rogers, comprising of eight men including Gunner Rogers. They spent their first week renovating Ely House and Bann a-boo House (the Riverbank House Hotel) and the surrounding grounds. The two houses were later occupied by the officers.
Lieutenant Commander Victor Daniel Herbster arrived to take command of the base on April 5, 1918.
During those weeks in 1918, Wex-Wexford town had heard the mighty roar of the seaplane engines as they took flight from the river waters heading out in their quest for enemy submarines which were causing such mayhem in the seas around the coast.
The expertise and diligence of the American pilots and crews very soon halted the progress of the iron fish that had invaded the Irish Sea and St George’s Channel for so long.
Following the signing of the Armistice, all anti-submarine patrols by seaplanes were discontinued and the planes were grounded and disarmed.
Just 12 days after the Armistice was signed, 200 men were on their way home from Wexford and the evacuation of the men continued until well into December. The US Naval Air Station at Ferrybank finally closed in February 1919 bringing to a close the American occupation of a part of Wexford. It was early in 1919 that Commander Herbster left the Air Base at Ferrybank, his work completed.
Liam Gaul’s lecture takes place in the Kitty Hynes Auditorium, St Michael’s Hall on Green Street, on Wednesday at 8 p.m. Admission for non society members is €5.